BBC Radio 4’s Today programme morning saw its figures drop from seven million listeners in the final quarter of 2015 to 6.7 million for this quarter, while BBC Radio 5 live’s breakfast show listeners fell marginally from 2.292 million in the previous quarter to 2.262 million listeners.

Davey, who has introduced features to Radio 3 including longer pieces of music and no news for its breakfast show, said: “I’m really proud of our constantly evolving offer which is unique and lovingly curated.”

He also cited the “continuing strength” of drivetime show InTune, which mixes live music with culture news.

BBC Radio boss Helen Boaden added that BBC Radio 3 was in “rude health”, while Radio 1 and 1Xtra controller Ben Cooper said: “Rajars are only part of a bigger story, as we’ve seen record numbers for our distinctive programming on YouTube and social media.

“As young audiences increasingly spend time on mobiles, we have to evolve and so I’m delighted with the three million YouTube subscribers and a combined eight million audience across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.”

BBC Radio 6 Music also increased its reach, going up from 2.2 million listeners in the previous quarter to 2.24 million listeners, while BBC Radio 1Xtra also saw its figures go up, reaching 1.04 million weekly listeners across the period, up from 982,000 last quarter.

BBC Local Radio reached 8.7 million listeners per week, up from 8.5 million last quarter and BBC World Service had a weekly UK audience of 1.47 million, down from 1.51 million last quarter. The Asian Network’s figures were 562,000 compared with 563,000 last quarter.

Overall radio listenership has dipped slightly, with 89% of the population tuning in to the radio each week, with 47.8 million adults. The previous quarter from October to December saw 48.2 million adults, or 90% of the population aged 15 or older, listening to the stations monitored by Rajar each week.

Capital London is still the most popular radio station in London with a weekly reach of 2.2 million listeners this quarter, up from two million last quarter. Its nearest rival is Kiss (London) with two million listeners.

Radio X London, which was formerly XFM, is now a national station and its weekly listenership for this quarter was 1.240 million, up from 1.225 million in the previous quarter.